Automatic air-current reverser for drying-machines.



T. ALLSOP & W. W. SIBSON. AUTOMATIC AIR CURRENT REVERSEP. P0P.

DRYING MA..-.EINE'.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14, 1908.

Patented Jan. '7, 1913.

(June/141mm thereof.

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mi u ii? 3.31.31)? 'LVALTER W. SIESQN, 8'5 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, C139 Ei-EILADELPHIA DRYING MACHINERY CQMPANY, 0F E I-1111A 533311 932113, 2 E FZLVANIA, 15h CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

J3I-CURRENT REVERS ER FOR DRYING-ILSIACHENES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

?; ,i'l l-ii Patented Jan. 3* 12 3136 Application filed September 14, 1908. Se1ial1t1'o.452,892.

I!" 0 052 whom it may concern: tion of the air, thus economising in the use Be is shown that we, Tn

WTAL'LEB W. Simeon citizens of the United residing at Philadelphia, in the r I Philadelphia and State of Penn sylvaniq, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Air-Current Beversers for Drving-liiechines; ande do herehyideclare the following to he a full, clear; and exact description of the inv 1 L X'Q11i1011,' $11(3l1 as Will enaule OLhQTS skilled in the art to which it eppertains to make use the some.

"fhis invention relates to improvements in drying machines,- snd more particularly relateste -sn' automatic sir-current reverser therefor.

1n thnt type of machines designed for drying yarns, and especially where the yarns are suspended from trucks, it is exceedingly diihcult to obtain :1 nniiorin drying of the yarn. This is due .to the fact, that the skeins ere hun ltl'ilQl'S or rows and when.

assembled upon the truck the skeins nresent a Wet mass circulate the air. The yarn dries much more quickly in some. portions or" the truck load than in others, so that it is not infrequent that the workmen withdrew the trucks from the machine, turn the some end-for-cnd, and replace the trucks in the machine to finish drying those portions of the yarn not previously sutiiciently dried. Unless inc yarn is thoroughly dried the dyeliquor naturally grevitates to the bottom of the suspended slieins, and impairs the value Furthermore, the most rapid drying of tne yarn occurs Where the air cireulotion is the strongest, permitting the other portions to remain dump, and necessitating an extended and tedious operation to dry the entire mass.

It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide means by which the drying of yarn is greatly facilitated and the same accomplished with most uniform results thereby shortening the drying process, and effecting a material saving in the expense of the d nin The invention also seeks to provide means for accomplishing the drying by recircula- "[AS Annsor and 1 through which it is diihcult to trated in the accompanying drawings, and

pointed out in the appended claims.

In. the drawings-lfigure "l. is an elevation, partly in section, ofs dying 212k chine eqnippedwith the prese ention. 2 is s top plan View thereof. 3

.is a detail elevation of e portion of the ineehenisin for effecting reversal o the fans.

Referring in detail to the e -4 numeral 1 designates the of drying inschi ing, as nsnah hosting chamber ior each of the dryii chambers 3 these ohauihers being SQPRTETtiLe by partition ft, and communication sttorded between said chambers by a PQSSZEQQW;

the bottom of said partition] rs? chamber 2 is provided Wit honh ing coils 5, whereby the 1 in ;hrong the chamber 2, is lEQHGt'l "'0 quireddegree. Tl'iepsrts ti are of the usual construction.

In the top of the partition 1 opening or openings, deternnu size of the insehinc as to their nun in this o p eningor openings err lan or fans tor the purpose of CJC i. the air between the chambers F3 and 3. machines Where plurality of the dry chambers 13 are employed as i the present instance, the fans 6 i ranged in opposite relation or in pairs, and are preferably mounted upon seine shaft, and when arranged in this n .ner the of each pair are right end hand fans, thus adapting the some to blow in oioosite directions.

For directing the air in a fixed path in relation to the material to he dried, which material is supported. upon trucks (not shown.) the roof of the casino; 1 is provided with a h -shaped depression that; lengthwise of the casing; and thus abet, and

terior of the sides of the casing 1. The

bearings for the shafts are, therefore, dis- Y posed at the exterior of the casing, and liachambers 3.

. thereto.

bility to fire by reason of heated bearings is thereby reduced to a minimum.

When the shaft of each pair of the fans 6 is rotating in the direction by which the fans blow inwardly, the blast from the fans strikes against the deflectors 7 and is directed by the latter in a downward direction upon the material carried by the trucks in the chambers 3, but in the reverse rotation of the fans, or that wherein they blow outwardly, the air is drawn upwardly from the chambers 3 against the deflectors '7 and directed by the latter to the fans 6, whence the air is blown into the upper portion of the chambers 2 and descends through the latter to the heating coils, issuing from the bottom of the chambers 2, beneath the lower ends of the partitions 4, into the The air, therefore, in either direction, circulates in a substantially vertical path, and across the material being dried.

Were the fans 6 to rotate continuously in but one direction, or in a direction wherein the blast therefrom is directed inwardly, the

material being dried would be acted upon to a greater extent where the blast is the strongest, and this, obviously, would be at a point immediately below thelower ends of the deflectors 7, and in the region adjacent Hence, the material nearest the partitions 4 would remain damp, and the operation of drying the same would be an extended and" tedious one. That the material nearest the partitions 4; may be acted upon with the same uniformity of results as that nearest the middle portion of the machine, provision is made for automatically and periodically reversing the direction of i rotation of the fans 6, by which reversal the material at the middle portion of the machine is first acted upon by the strongest portion of the blast, after which this part of the material receives the weaker portion of'the blast, or action of the air, while that, portion next to the partitions 4 receives the action of the stronger portion of thecirculation, and'this reversal of the air in its circulation is continued until the material has been fully dried. To accomplish this end a pulley 11 is tightly mounted upon the fan shaft '8, adjacent to which pulley is a loose pulley 12, and adjacent to said pulley 12 is a third pulley 18 that is carried by a sleeve 14, the latter being loosely mounted upon the shaft 8 and having connected thereto a bevel pinion 15. This pinion 16 at the side of the latter opposite to that at which the plnlon 15 is mounted.

Carried by the shaft 17 is a pinion 19 that meshes with a spur gear 20, the latter being journaled in proximity to the bevel gear 16, and said gear 20 actuates a stud plate 21 having a stud 22 projecting therefrom. This stud 22 is designed to engage the up per end of a bent lever 23 that is pivoted at 24: to the machine casing in order to shift said lever in opposite directions, and connected to said lever 23 is rod having belt shitting lingers 26 designed to engage a belt that works upon the faces of the pulleys ll, 12 and 13. The free end of the rod 25 is mounted in a guide 27, whereby movement of the rod 25 is assured, and as the lever 23 is shifted in alternate directions, it will be observed that the rod 25 will resporn thereto, thus shifting the belt over the faces of the pulleys ll, 12 and 13.

In the operation of the herein described machine, the yarn to be dried, if this is the material to be acted on by the machine, is placed upon the usual supporting trucks, and the latter are introduced to the drying chambers 3. "When the drivng belt is upon the loose pulley 12, it-will be understood that the fan shaft is at rest. When, however, the belt is shifted to the tight pulley 11 the fan shalt operates in one direction, and if this direction be such as to cause the fans to blow inwardly, the blast will be dirooted against. the deflectors 7, as previously described. During this movci'nent of the shaft 8 thcbevcl gear 18 actuales the gear 16, and this gear, through the medium of the gears 19 and 20, rotates the stud plate 21, and carries the stud 22 into engagement with one side of the upper end oi the lever 23. When this engan'ementis effected the lever 23 is swung upon its pivot, operating thcrcd 2510 shift. the belt across the faces of the pulleys 12 and l3, and positions the belt upon the latter pulley. therefore. moves with the driving belt, rotating the sleeye 14 and the pinion 15, and power is now applied from the pinion 15 to the gear 16, the direction of rotation ofwhich is now reversed, and in turn reversing the direction of: rotation of the gears 19 and 20, and also the direction of rotation of the stud. plate 21., In this movement the stud 22 is carried around to the other side of the lever 23,- rcversing this lever, and, thus moving the rod 25 in such a direction as to carry the driving belt back to the tight pulley 11, whereupon movement of the respective elements is again reversed, and the direction at the blast of the fans likewise till masses .the direction of rotation of the fans will occur, and with each reversal thereof the circulation of the air within the machine will be reversed, the air passing alternately up and down through the yarn being dried, and uniformly acting upon the latter to extract the moisture therefrom. That the lever 23 may be shifted with the least expenditure of force the upper end of said lever is provided with a weight 28, and when said weight has passed the center of movement of the lever 23, in either direction, it will be apparent that the weight has a tendency to throw the lever 28 in the direction in which it is moving.

It will be observed that by means of the foregoing arrangement the air within the machine is continuously recirculated during the drying operation, and this economizes in the use of the heat, so that the machine operates at minimum expense in the consumption of the heat. Furthermore, the yarn or other material that is being dried is acted upon with a uniform distribution of the air, thereby materially shortening the drying operation, and subjecting all portions of the mass to the strongest portion of the blast periodically incident to the reversal of the direction oi the blast of the fans.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a drying machine containing a plurality of drying chambers, but it will be understood that the same is capable of embodiment in a machine having but one drying chamber, and alsoin a machine wherein, only one fan is employed. YVhere a plurality of fans is employed, and the same are arranged in pairs, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, each fan shaft is equipped with the reversing mechanism described, and thus the respective fans will be periodically reversed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is: v

1. In a drying machine, a rotary fan, means for periodically actuating said fan in opposite directions, an inclined deflector as sociated with said fan for directing the air in a fixed path of movement relatively to said fan and the material to be dried, and means for automatically changing the direction of rotation of the fan at determinate periods.

2. In a drying machine, the combination with a fan, and its shaft, said fan being arranged to circulate the air in a substantially vertical path across the material being dried, of means for driving said shaft, and means actuated by said driving means and said shaft forautomatically reversing the movement of said shaft at determinate periods.

3. In a drying machine, the combination with a fan, and its shaft, said fan being arranged to circulate the air in a substantially vertical path across the material being dried, of belt-driving connections associated with said shaft, a belt-shifter, and means associated with said belt-shifter and actuated by said driving connections and said shaft for automatically reversing the movement of said shaft at determinate periods.

In testimonywhereof we afiix our signatures, in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS ALLSOP. WALTER W. SIBSON.

d/itnesses:

HENRY P. HARPER, RAL-rH M. ERWIN. 

